Conventionally in shooting pictures in dark places a xenon tube is typically used as a source of light for electronic flash for illumination. The xenon tube can emit a sufficient quantity of light. However, peripheral circuitry driving the xenon tube requires a highly voltage withstanding, large-capacity capacitor, a voltage transformer and the like. Consequently, the source of light for electronic flash employing the xenon tube has a physically increased geometry. As such, it has been significantly difficult to mount an auxiliary source of light of this type in miniature mobile equipment having a shooting function. Conventionally for example camera equipped mobile phones are equipped with an auxiliary source of light using a xenon tube to shoot pictures with the camera. The auxiliary source of light is physically large in geometry, as has been mentioned, and has accordingly been detachably attached to a mobile phone, rather than incorporated therein.
As conventional art employing LED, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 5-328210 discloses an illumination device using a light emitting diode (LED) for a TV camera that is synchronized with the TV camera's shuttering operation to emit light in pulse. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-68742 discloses a shooting apparatus employing an LED for light for illumination for shooting for synchronization between the LED's illumination period and the camera's shooting period. An illumination device employing an LED of Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-48708 synchronizes a charge coupled device (CCD) electronic shutter camera's exposure and of the LED's emission of light in pulse.
The techniques disclosed in these publications do indicate that illumination for shooting is provided by using an LED. However, they only disclose a technique employed to synchronize a timing of driving the LED and that of picking up an image. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-66292 discloses that when an apparatus transfers onto a color film the data shot by a camera, it selects one of LEDs emitting different colors of light depending on different background colors and causes the selected LED to emit light to allow a clear record regardless of the color of the background.
While the above mentioned publications do indicate that light for illumination is provided by using an LED, none of the documents indicates that mobile equipment employs an LED to generate and direct white light for illumination to an object.
When a mobile phone is typically used to shoot a picture of an object via a camera, the mobile phone is often positioned to face the object for example to take a picture of the object's face at a short distance in closeup. The shot image can be digitally processed to be adjusted, and the camera equipped mobile phone does not require an auxiliary source of light providing as much a quantity of light as provided by a xenon tube. Accordingly, there is a demand for an auxiliary source of white light smaller in size and consuming less power than the xenon tube.